Toledo Streets Issue #12 by Toledo Streets Newspaper

THE

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ISSUE #12 Your donation directly benefits the vendor. Please only buy from badged vendors.

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A Digest of READER’S FAVORITES, including:

Page 6: An exclusive interview with

GORDIE HOWE

PLUS:

Page 6: Freeing those trapped in the

SEX INDUSTRY

Page 7: Our in-depth Q&A with

JOHN MELLENCAMP

“Beggars” to business owners, page 2 Universal language, page 3 Farming in the city: Criminal crops?, page 3 Poetry: The Downtown Museum, page 5 My view of the bridge, page 7 Siege on Stoney Ridge, page 8 Pineapples on porches, page 9

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You can find us online:

toledostreets.org

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Toledo Streets - The Paper with a Mission

Issue #12

“Beggars” to business owners Thanks for being part of the solution

Amanda F. Moore, Managing Editor We’d like to thank you for purchasing this copy of Toledo Streets. We hope you’re enjoying it and discovering a new facet of your community. Please continue to support our vendors when you get the chance. For other ways to support them and the paper, contact us or visit our website for more details. Toledo Streets is a monthly publication called a street paper. We are part of a worldwide movement of street papers that seeks to provide simple economic opportunities to homeless individuals and those experiencing poverty. Our vendors purchase each paper for 25¢, and ask for a dollar donation. In exchange for their time and effort in selling the paper, they keep the difference. They are asking for a handup, not a hand out. By purchasing this paper, you have helped someone struggling to make it. Not just in terms of money, but also in the dignity of doing something for themselves. Many thanks again! We are a non-profit organization operating under a 501(c)3 fiscal agent. This means that any donations made to us c/o 1Matters.org (our fiscal agent) are tax deductible - not to mention greatly appreciated. Our mission is to empower individuals struggling with extreme poverty to participate on a new level in the community through self-employment, job training, and contributorship.

www.toledostreets.org 419.825.NEWS (6397) facebook.com/toledostreets twitter.com/toledostreets Toledo Streets is a member of both the NASNA and INSP, organizations dedicated to developing and overseeing the best practices of street papers.

ur thanks to 13ABC’s Diane Larson, who asked a question the other night which must be getting asked more and more with the rise of panhandlers on Toledo’s streets: Should I give money to the person on the corner with the cardboard sign asking for help? That question actually has several layers: Is their need legit? Am I just enabling some bad habit? Why don’t they get a regular job? The answers to those questions, of course, are as varied as the individuals holding the signs. While the signs may look similar, and perhaps eventually the people holding them may start to look similar as well (even similar enough to become invisible), the stories behind those behind the signs aren’t identical. As someone who has herself been forced into total dependency—as an adult—on others, there’s something to be said for those

willing to stand and brand themselves with a “fly sign.” Asking for help does weird things to your sense of self. As for enabling... who’s to say? The possibility is real—as real as the chance you might be looking at someone who is a few bucks away from getting evicted instead of looking at someone trying to score their next high. It all comes down to judgement, and we’re all wrestling with the desire to be simultaneously compassionate and smart. If that’s the goal, there’s no cookie-cutter way to discern who’s really in need. At least, not by looking at them. May I suggest talking to them if you have the time? I can guarantee if you strike up a conversation with someone asking for your spare change, you’ll both walk away richer. “Get a job.” Not quite so easy anymore, and definitely harder for anyone trying to overcome a past. Making ends meet even with a job is becoming more difficult. But that’s a

You’re now a part of a local, social microenterprise program. It’s simple...

whole ‘nother can of worms. So what’s the solution? Ignore everyone, risk being scammed, or... Or, what you’re holding in your hands right now. If you bought this paper from someone wearing a Toledo Streets badge, you’ve just done business with an entreprenuer. They buy the paper for a quarter (to help cover printing costs) and sell for a $1 donation. I hope you enjoy this issue. For those unfamiliar with the paper, this is a collection of reader’s favorite articles from the last year-and-a-half. Thanks for supporting the vendors—for seeing them as well as giving them the dignity of doing business with you. Your $1 matters, because... THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS SMALL CHANGE.

Vendor pays 25¢ for each paper, and profits 75¢ from your $1.

Vendor code of conduct

hile Toledo Streets is a non-profit, and paper vendors are considered contracted self-employers, we still have expectations of how vendors should conduct themselves while selling and representing the paper. The following list is our Vendor Code of Conduct, which every vendor reads through and signs before receiving a badge and papers. This Code is also printed on the back of each badge. We request that if you discover a vendor violating any tenets of the Code, please contact us and provide as many details as possible. Our paper and our vendors should be positively impacting the city. All vendors must agree to the following code of conduct: • Toledo Streets will be distributed for a voluntary donation of $1. I agree not to ask for more or less than a dollar or solicit donations for

Toledo Streets by any other means. • I will only purchase the paper from Toledo Streets staff and will not sell papers to other vendors (outside of the office volunteers). • I agree to treat all others— customers, staff, other vendors— respectfully, and I will not “hard sell,” threaten or pressure customers. • I agree to stay off private property when selling Toledo Streets. • I understand I am not a legal employee of Toledo Streets but a contracted worker responsible for my own well-being and income. • I agree to not sell any additional goods or products when selling the paper.

• I will not sell Toledo Streets under the influence of drugs or alcohol. • There are no territories among vendors. I will respect the space of other vendors, particularly the space of vendors who have been at a spot longer. • I understand my badge is the property of Toledo Streets and will not deface it. I will present my badge when purchasing the papers and display my badge when selling papers. • I understand Toledo Streets strives to be a paper that covers homelessness and poverty issues while providing a source of income for the homeless. I will try to help in this effort and spread the word.

Issue #12

Toledo Streets - The Paper with a Mission

Universal language

Farming in the city: Criminal crops? Michelle Davis

his past summer, I had the amazing opportunity to be able to visit a migrant camp near Bowling Green. I honestly didn’t know what I was going to do when I got there, because I wasn’t part of the medical team going to minister to their physical needs, and I hadn’t brought food or supplies like some of the others that were planning to pass those out. I didn’t know a lick of Spanish. All I had brought was myself, and my two kids. But it turned out—that was enough. I felt hesitant as I climbed down off the bus, and stepped onto their front yard and headed for their porch. What would I say? How would I be received? I hadn’t needed to worry, though, because kids have a way of getting around all of the things us adults get hung up on. Before I knew it, my kids were kicking around a soccer ball with their kids. Someone got out bubbles that were on the bus, and we all (kids and adults alike), started blowing bubbles, our inhibitions popping with every bubble that broke on the blades of grass. You could see smiles start to form, could hear giggles and shrieks coming from across the lawn as the kids played. You could hear us adults starting our poor and comical attempts at communicating. They laughed at our Spanish, as we asked them about their lives, their work, and their families. I found that hugs were their own universal language, and a smile spoke volumes. One of the adults that spoke English told us that they knew we were good people by how well we played with their kids. You don’t need to speak the same language to communicate Love.

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William James O’Fahey

W Alisa Davis (background) playing on the steps of LifeLine Ministry’s “Buszilla” at a migrant camp, with friends Milana, left, and Jasmine, right. Jasmine works out in the fields with her family. Photo: Shawn Kellerbauer

Each time that we went to visit, even though we were getting there as the sun set, most of the families were still out in the fields. Not just the parents, but the kids, too. I was taken aback to learn that children, my own kids’ ages, were out in the fields working the same hours as their parents—from about 7 in the morning, until sunset. I was told a typical day for everyone was about 12 hours out in the field. To see the kids out playing at night with my own kids, you would’ve never guessed they’d just put in a 12 hour day. These kids were so vibrant and full of life, and so mature too. They were happy to help us with our translating, or to help us move things in order to set-up for the passing out of food and supplies. When I think back to the amazing families I met last summer, several words come to mind: courageous, cohesive, hard-working, content, determined...and most of all: strength. ts

Children make up 23% of people experiencing homelessness on any given night in the HUD Homeless Support Service Network.

hen we think about the price of a cucumber or tomato in any market in Toledo, I think it well to consider the REAL costs of growing produce, and how much more we would pay if American free markets were actually free! There’s a lot of folks arguing about “illegal” immigration from Mexico, and there are police departments around America that get Federal hand-outs of money to help deport undocumented workers, but steering clear of the political maneuvering around this issue, I think it well to consider a couple of points. One-third of the agricultural work force in the U.S. consists of hired farm workers and half of these workers are here illegally (Source: North Carolina State University Analysis, May 11, 2010). Illegal immigration is the very lifeblood of the big corporate model of produce farming. Without illegal immigration the entire philosophy of American agribusiness would have to change. Wages for pickers would have to rise significantly, and fieldworker health, such as exposure to pesticides and herbicides, could no longer be ignored. This would make tomatoes and cucumbers and such more expensive. A second thought has to do with the trade agreements that the U.S. government has penned with the Mexican government. We now know that millions of Mexican farm families have been displaced because of U.S. government handouts of money to giant U.S. corporate farms. These so-called “subsidized” crops from the U.S. (mostly corn and the

“4 whites” - milk, sugar, soybeans, and cotton) are unfairly dumped on Mexican markets at prices so low that unsubsidized Mexican farmers can’t possible compete. Cheap food hurts poor people, but three-quarters of the world’s people are rural farmers. When unfairly subsidized imports undercut their products, they starve…“Wealthy countries do far more harm to poor nations with these subsidies then they do good with foreign aid” (Tina Rosenberg, Why Mexico’s Small Corn Farmers Go Hungry, North Carolina State, Online March 2003). Therefore, what we have is not a “free market” at all; in fact, many of the guys screaming the loudest about free markets and illegal immigration are actually getting the biggest U.S. government handouts. Observes Dr. Robert Peace, Professor of Accounting at North Carolina State, and author of the recent paper on U.S. farm subsidies (5/11/2010), “We have agricultural subsidies at the federal level that are huge. For example, corn is highly subsidized. Because of U.S. subsidies, and the North American free trade agreement, big U.S. corporations can sell corn in Mexico cheaper than Mexican farmers can grow it. As a result, since farm workers can’t make any money farming in Mexico, they come to the United States as migrant workers.” Finally, and very simply, it is precisely these displaced Mexican farm families, victims of a government manipulated scam to profit corporations that utilize high-fructose corn syrup and cheap chicken and cattle feeds… it is many of these Mexican farm families who are “illegally” picking our produce here in Northwest Ohio. ts

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Toledo Streets - The Paper with a Mission

Issue #12

Mellencamp

Continued from page 11

KL: Which is a real good segue to… JM: Besides, why was that job open? Cause the guy that was doing it couldn’t stand it any more. He wanted to quit because the hypocrisy was too great for him so he said, “I can’t do this anymore.” Not me. You know the devil, He thinks he’s got me. But he ain’t got me ... ... ... No.” - Right Behind Me KL: You’ve always fought convention in your work, your life, and your music. And “No Better Than This” is the perfect example of busting convention to shreds. It’s so not the McMusic they play on the McRadio today. This is a tasty CD. What was your inspiration for the whole premise? JM: Well I knew I was gonna go on tour, Bob [Dylan] and I did a tour last summer and I knew I was gonna come close to all these places. It was kind of a leisurely tour, so I thought, what the hell, I got the time, let’s make the most out of this - we’re gonna be in these places and that was just how it started. And then I wrote the songs and I wrote all those songs in about in about 10-15 days, I don’t’ know. It was just I’d get up every morning and I’d write. I’d write two or three songs in a day and I let the songs write themselves, as opposed to sometimes when you write songs you try to steer them a way that you would like them to go. But these songs, I just, they kind of wrote themselves really, I just let them go wherever they wanted to go and that’s how they ended up. KL: What about the idea of the recording process, recorded in Mono? JM: Well, of course, it was a rebellious act of, ya know. There is a song on the record called “The West End” and it says “it’s worse now, look what progress did.” So I decided that, you know, to go just as far away from the popular culture of music as I possibly could and just go back to where it began. The whole record was recorded on one channel and, ya know, one tape machine (a 1955 Ampex), and the whole band played it once and there was one microphone. KL: It is such a pure sound. JM: There are no over dubs, no echo,

there’s no anything. It’s just what the room sounded like and it was fun because it was musicians actually playing music, as opposed to building a record or constructing a record. KL: How did you choose the locations? JM: By the way the tour was routed. I knew that I was gonna be close to Memphis, and I knew I was gonna start in Savannah and I have a house in right outside of Savannah on an island, so it gave me an opportunity to stay there and work a couple days, and then we went to Memphis. Then we tried to go to Texas to the building where Johnson also recorded, but it was condemned and they wouldn’t let us in. So we ended up having to go to San Antonio, which was kind of out of the way, but we were only there two days. KL: We absolutely love “Right Behind Me” – the sound, the feel. From the very start with Miriam Sterm’s attacking strings… JM: It’s that corner, that’s the same corner that Robert Johnson recorded “Hell Hound’s on My Trail” in San Antonio, Texas, Gunter Hotel. And like T-Bone [Burnett] said, that’s the best sounding corner I ever heard. KL: Right, that is such a great song. And the hook, the hook is incredible you know, “You know the devil, he thinks he got me, he ain’t got me...” John and all in the room: “...No.” (Laughter) KL: Last question, I can tell you that from when I was unhoused and living in my car, you nailed the feeling of hopelessness in “Graceful Fall.” “It’s not a graceful fall from dreams to truth, there’s not a lot of hope if you got nothing to lose.”

Since 2007, foreclosures and job losses increased the number of families in shelters nearly 30%. Each night there are 640,000 unhoused Americans who have lost domestic autonomy and are living on the streets and in shelters, 15% are veterans. Some of those will be selling the very street papers which are carrying your words right now. As you did from the stage in Toledo, what are your words

of hope to all of our brothers and sisters who are living on the streets of our country? JM: Wow, that’s a big question, that’s an awfully big question. I wish I had something that I could say that seemed to address that question, but I’m not sure I really do at this point in our country. So, I don’t know, you know. KL: You’ve always been a fighter, you’ve always had hope. JM: Well, I’ve always, ah, I’ve always had a bunch of dumb cliché things that my family taught me that I always passed on to my kids. My grandfather passed them on to me and they’ve always provided some sort of hope in my life. They’re not very eloquent, but the greatest advice I ever got in my life and, it’s not very eloquent, but “If you’re gonna’ hit a c*ck-s*cker, kill him.” And what my grandfather meant when he said that was if you’re actually going to do something, don’t talk about it, don’t brag about it, just go do it and do it to the best that you can possibly do. And that’s what he was saying, don’t be threatening, don’t be talking, don’t be bragging. I think that as un-eloquently as it was said, it was probably one of the most important things said to me in my life. KL: Which is a perfect thing to say to the people on the streets, because if you’re gonna get off the streets, you can. JM: You can, you need to! See the problem is most people give up too early and I’m not talking about just the people

on the street, I’m just talking about people in general. They give up on relationships too early, they give up on themselves too early, they give up on life too early. I mean I’ve been writing that since I was a kid. In the song called “Jack and Diane” you know they were only 16 and already giving up. People just give up too early, they just quit, you know, “this is too hard,” or, “I don’t wanna do this anymore.” I think that’s a problem, and I think that’s a problem our country has. Over the decades it was allowed to happen by the work ethic and through capitalism, a lot of things that affect this country that allow people to think that way, that the world owes them a living. And as soon as you start thinking that somebody owes you something, forget it man, you’re done. And as soon as you start thinking you’re right and everybody else is wrong... It’s like the guy who was married six or seven times, hell, I think it might be me – I think this could be me, I’m starting to think this is my problem. KL: Amen. Thank you, John. JM: Well, thank you. Save some time to dream, ’Cause your dream could save us all, Oh yeah, Your dream might save us all.” - Save Some Time to Dream Ken Leslie has been throwing starfish back in the ocean since 1990 and can be contacted ts at 1Matters.org.

Issue #12

Toledo Streets - The Paper with a Mission

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Poetry The Downtown Museum I want to tell you a story, but nobody listens anymore. So I have given up speaking audibly. What follows is my recorded testimony, & nothing can penetrate the isolation I find my/ self mirrored in; not the senseless murder of Dr. Brundage; not downtown revitalization; not even the somewhat sudden demise of the “king of pop”. Now, either I’m going crazy, & Larry is regaining his faculties, or Larry is really on to something, & it is I who must bear witness. After weeks of dissonance, Larry has learned to play chord progressions on the piano. His playing has an elusive rhythm, but it is one that touches me. Yesterday, Larry went uptown (I don’t know where), & I really missed his playing underneath the buzz of conversation; underneath the clackclackclack of the dominos; underneath the excessive volume of the big screen tv (w/ no picture, mind you) . . . underneath, he sounds like thelonius monk & when it filters in, I am grooving to Larry’s music. At its core, the museum is both fascinating, and diverse. You must see it to believe it. It is where despair & hopelessness

meet mental illness & testosterone. The museum is a living organism. Human artifacts on display, in a real time exhibition – so it is probably more suited to a play or documentary. Something to accentuate the moment to moment dramatization of one’s own personal issues. The mental illness is pervasive, and imposing. Perhaps as much as half of it is undiagnosed, & most of it is untreated. & those diagnosed fail to understand the importance of taking their meds. Oh, and by the way, I am one of the actors in this real life drama. . . So, did you see where you could get a free AK-47 for buying a new truck? Suppose if I buy a yacht, I can get that hummer w/ the gun turret, & a 20 caliber machine gun. Texas. . . “all my exes live in Texas, that’s why I hang my hat in Tennessee”. Today, Larry sounds like the great McCoy Tyner. This is a rite of passage. Now Larry is giving a concert whenever he plays, & I am now sure that he feels that he is on to something. Larry is everyone from Juan Valdez, to a cross dressing manic depressive. He is everyone you know – an everyday action exhibit. . .

Coming attractions. . . animated exhibits on bi polarism, & szisophrania, and all that is excessive compulsive. Toledo does not need downtown revitalization. Downtown is plenty vitalized w/ living organic sculptures – energized by extreme & excessive substance abuse. No, not everyone, not Larry. I don’t know how to clinically define Larry’s malady, but he plays avant garde/classical/ jazz piano. How? & is that not redeeming enough? & what’s up w/ all these vacant houses, while people are in the street homeless? Seems like a natural marriage to me. These are not bums like before – after all these foreclosures, business failures, and outsourcing of jobs, working Americans are in the street. Betchu never considered that. Back in the day, it was unheard of for women to be at the mission. Now there are women – lots of them, & children too. Exposed to toxicity, promiscuity, despair, and waste. Are you listening county commissioners? Are you listening gov. Strickland? Can you hear me Barack?? I say this because fanny mae is not the people of the united states; general motors is not the people of the united states; wall

street, empire country, I’m dying. When I left, Larry was using the pedals, allowing his sound to swell. As his confidence grows, so too, does the sound. It’s pervasive & imposing. At this point, Larry has many believers, & underneath the tights & skirt, & several layers of clothing, Larry is an artist. There, I said it. An artist/musician. This is for the homeless. It’s for Vinnie & frank; popa smurf & Melvin; for everybody who went into the building across the street, & never came back; for anybody else who moved in outside the “lucky dollar”; for the cherry street mission, st. paul’s community ctr., rebekka’s haven, & the sparrows nest; for 211’s & anxiety; for old English 800 & manic depression; for crack cocaine &obsession compulsion; This is a poem for our people, & for our cities. So that all of you who care to can speak this poem, silently, or LOUD. THANK YOU. . . Primary viewing hours for the museum are every day from 6am to 7pm, and if you prefer something more sinister, you can go there late into the night. Admission seems to be free. . . bonfiles

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Toledo Streets - The Paper with a Mission

Gordie on poverty & hockey

William James O’Fahey and Robert Ellis

Gordie stands holding his beloved dog, Rocket. Photo: Robin Charney

watched Gordie Howe play. This gives Gordie a kind of timelessness. Like Bo Schembechler, Sparky Anderson, Ernie Harwell, Joe Louis, or the Lions on Thanksgiving Day, Gordie Howe connects us to our grandparents and parents, and other family and friends, in a way that lives-on-still even after their earthly souls have long departed. Not to get too sappy, but it’s kinda like church. Like the liturgical prayers or hymns sung for hundreds and thousands of years. It’s not ancestor worship, but we share a collective memory of personalities like Schembechler and Harwell and Anderson and Louis… Gordie Howe belongs to that canon of Michigan sports legends who bind our community identity across economic, and racial, and political lines…Gordie Howe is one for the ages!

PART II

n a recent Sunday afternoon, two friends had the privilege of talking with one of the greatest hockey players to ever compete in the NHL, the legendary Detroit Red Wing forward, Gordie Howe. Although he had a reputation for being “mean as a snake” on the ice, off the ice, Gordie is to this day, a kind and gracious gentleman. The whole time we were together, his little dog “Rocket,” named after his great Montreal Canadien rival, Maurice “Rocket” Richard, sat quietly on his lap, never moving an inch. Gordie is surrounded by family on this

Free2BMe delivers hope

Sharon McQueary

“T

PART I

here are sports institutions and personalities in Michigan who transcend the game; remember Tiger Stadium, Sparky Anderson, Ty Cobb, Ernie Harwell, and Hank Greenberg; think Michigan – Ohio State rivalry, Bo Schembechler, and the recent big chill hockey game at Michigan Stadium; the traditional Thanksgiving day parade in Detroit is followed by Lion’s football (however maddening); remember Joe Louis versus Max Schmelling, and remember the arena that bears Joe’s name…you might even think there’s something timeless about the Red Wings and the Tigers and the Spartans and the Wolverines…and it is in this timeless way that hockey legend Gordie Howe transcends the game! The rugged number Nine from Saskatchewan broke NHL records and won Stanley Cup Championships on his way to the Hall of Fame, but Gordie Howe has become more than this. Gordie Howe played five decades in professional hockey. This meant that other legendary players like Tony Esposito, Guy Lefleur, and Wayne Gretzky not only admired Gordie Howe the hockey player when they were kids, but they later played with Howe as pros. In this role as a sort of brawling elder statesman, Gordie Howe has emerged as hockey’s symbolic ambassador to the world. And he’s ours…Gordie Howe played in the NHL for the Detroit Red Wings, our team. Our grandfathers and our grandmothers watched Gordie Howe play, and our fathers and mothers

Issue #12

Sunday afternoon, and he smiles and engages our questions in a way that makes us visitors feel like family too… Mr. Howe reminisced about his childhood days in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Gordie Howe grew up knowing what poverty was. Early in his childhood Gordie’s family had no indoor plumbing and no central heating, and had to endure the brutal Canadian winters without these amenities. He told us how he would walk miles to the nearest well and carry buckets of water on his shoulders back to his family’s farmhouse.

“Gordie” continued on page 10

his isn’t what I dreamed off as a little girl. Can’t life rewind? Can’t I go back and make a different turn or something?” “I don’t know where I’m supposed to be…but I don’t think it’s here. I was supposed to be a doctor or a nurse, or maybe a teacher. I don’t know. I just know that I wasn’t supposed to end up going home each night smelling of stale smoke and cheap perfume, looking over my shoulder at all times. I wasn’t supposed to have spent my nights the way I do.” “Sure I feel like a woman and I feel in control…but I just don’t feel…well, I just don’t feel…whole. Something is missing…I keep trying to fill it. I tell myself everything is okay. But it’s just not working. The more I dance, the more I feel empty. I feel powerful, yet weak. I feel exhilarated, yet at the same time unable to breath. I feel the adrenaline pumping through my veins. Truthfully, I’m addicted to it. Sometimes I think it’s all that keeps me going, yet I feel like I’m running and have no place to go…” For three years, these are the daily banters Tori would have with herself when she danced in a local gentlemen’s club. They are not necessarily the feelings of all exotic dancers. However, they are real to some, and for Tori they seemed to echo deep in her soul. She was virtually alone with no real support, no genuine encouragement. She felt as if, with the exception of the men who paid for her attention, the world had exiled her. She had no one she

Tori heads into a local strip club. Photo: Stefani Carol

was able to trust. So these thoughts remained hers to endure. Thankfully, this does not have to be the case for exotic dancers today. In 2009, out of her life experiences, Tori birthed The Free2BMe Project, a local organization that seeks to directly respond to this felt need in the community. The Free2BMe Project exists to rally round women in the Toledo area who are employed in the adult entertainment/sex industry. Understanding fully the physical, emotional and spiritual stresses the business places on a woman, The Free2BMe Project aims to be a true friend to these women. The goal is to walk alongside women working in the sex industry as they journey toward the reclamation and fulfillment of their personal hopes and dreams. Tori’s involvement in the sex industry began early on in her teen life. She spent many years of her life making “Free2BeMe” continued on page 8

General Store of the Future

Serving & Selling Fair Trade! 331 N. Main Street, Bowling Green 419-352-0706 www.happybadger.com

“Free” continued on page 10

Mon-Sat: 11am-8pm, Sun: 12-5pm

Issue #12

Toledo Streets - The Paper with a Mission

My view of the bridge

Bonfiles

Page 7

Mellencamp talks to the streets

Ken Leslie

I got dreams And they’re bigger than this - The West End -

T F

The pristine Veterans Glass City Skyway stands in contrast to its surrounding landscape. Photo: Robin Charney

rom where I’m standing, the bridge is the only thing that really looks like something. The surrounding buildings and warehouses are mostly rundown & empty, and from down here, my “skyline” consists of some large pieces of cut concrete, big boulders, huge rocks ripped from something else, somewhere else, and a pile of pebbles, perhaps a story & a half high, being moved about all the time. The space between the bridge & me is mostly river and, like everything else, it has seen better times. Still, it remains a valuable source for food and, more importantly, it makes the landscape tolerable. I want to tell you what it’s like being homeless, but it’s such a radical departure from anything you’ve known, that I don’t know if it’s possible to make you know it. Make your senses accept it. I’m not sure that even the missionaries know what it’s like. Oh, they know that it’s awful, but what could they know beyond that? So, I will be your guide. I am the pulse of the people. Am at home in the jungle, and the city. I am king; of my corner, of the cage. I am the heartbeat of the street.

I have fixed time for our journey, otherwise I’d be busying my/self with preparations for the winter - & have not time for you. Winter robs me of my self sufficiency & independence, and always must I be imposing on others. All the while you’re running around readying your/selves for Thanksgiving & Christmas, I am in a life & death struggle for what’s left of my humanity. What is left of my/self. That, coupled with the ever present fear of exposure to the elements, limits my living, and I am double business-bound, but stand in pause, you know, swiftly standing still. That’s the end . . . Homelessness is equal parts fear & uncertainty, and each of them is potentially unnerving. Paralyzing. The nearest convenience store is just a block and a half away, but there isn’t a decent facility near enough, or a good meal close enough, for my liking, so I fear not being able to take a decent crap every day. Of course, I fear hunger, & the uncertainty of where I will lay my head. I fear being alone; of being with the wrong person; of having no money; no place to store my gear; of being safe. BATHING AND “Bridge” continued on page 8

o most people the “homeless” are nothing more than vague faces of poverty reflected in the mirror of a society afraid to even look, much less help. Over a career spanning 25 albums John Mellencamp has written about who he is. Then, more importantly, John Mellencamp has always Mellencamp, on stage in Windsor, ON, proving he still rocks a crowd. Photo: David Yonke walked his talk. This is called integrity. Thrust into superstar status by given night never give up. He hopes they the music machine in the 80’s, he got do whatever hard work necessary to a taste of the soulless part of the music overcome any and all obstacles between business. So he said “Whoa, screw that! themselves and domestic autonomy. That’s not who I am, ‘Cougar’ out!” His hope is all reading this Rejecting this money-making interview will support your local street machine, his walk tells us he cares more paper with your time and dollars. If there about people than money. He has are none in your city, you can direct your always worked for those without a voice. support to the North American Street Everyone matters! That’s why John did Newspaper Association (NASNA). Your this interview. support today allows us, those currently There were no conditions for and formerly on the streets, to encourage this interview, nor the pubic service each other and share the hope of our announcements for 1Matters and World successes in one collective voice. Homeless Day, October 10th. None. He These are his hopes. Why? literally said, “I will do what ever you Because every 1 Matters. need.” Complete unconditional trust. Why here instead of the Oh, but ain’t that America for you and me; mainstream press which would have Ain’t that America, somethin’ to see, baby; garnered much more publicity? His Ain’t that America, home of the free… single and absolute intent here is to talk Little pink houses for you and me. to those in the middle of the struggle - Little Pink Houses directly. His hope is vendors of street papers worldwide, having an exclusive Ken Leslie: On behalf of 1Matters, interview no one else has, will achieve Toledo Streets and the street paper financial and domestic autonomy. movement, and everyone who has lost His hope is each one of the domestic or financial autonomy in our 640,000 people on the streets of the country, thank you for your time today. “Mellencamp” continued on page 9 United States and in its shelters on any

Please support us to keep Toledo Streets on Toledo’s streets! Please write your tax-deductible check donation to “1Matters.org” with “Toledo Streets” in the memo line and mail to: Toledo Streets, 3722 Anderson Parkway, Toledo OH 43613. Donations can also be made securely online via PayPal at www.toledostreets.org, and put “Toledo Streets” in the special instructions line when processing. THANK YOU!

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Page 8

Toledo Streets - The Paper with a Mission

Free2BMe

Issue #12

Siege on Stoney Ridge View from the inside

continued from page 6

Nik Botek, TFDL choices based on bad circumstances. She shares today, “All those years that I thought I knew what freedom was I was really living in bondage. I believed that I was the portrait of freedom. I could do anything and everything. I was in control, yet I was trapped. It wasn’t until I began a relationship with Christ that I discovered that it is only in Him that I am truly free to be myself; to be the woman he created me to be.” As a faith-based organization, The Free2BMe Project takes a holistic approach to meeting the needs of these women, caring about their whole being—body, mind and spirit. Taking a not-so-typical slant, Tori firmly believes that while society has tended to exile these women, “the love of Christ knows no boundaries. The real issue is not how these women earn their living, but that they know, encounter, and experience the real love of Christ.” Twice a month The Free2BMe Project hits local strip clubs with love gifts in hand and one aim in mind— to let the women inside know they are loved, they are not alone and they have a friend. From its inception, Tori has been open to allowing The Free2BMe Project to have a fluidity to it. She is going with the flow, being obedient to the direction in which she feels called. Very early on in her brainstorming, she realized her path to exotic dancing did not begin in the clubs at 18 years, but instead as a young teen in the hands of others. Tori has found it hard to ignore the need to advocate the end to modern day slavery—human trafficking, specifically sex trafficking. In addition to its primary objective— building meaningful relationships and journeying alongside women in the sex industry—The Free2BMe Project has also begun to work, when and where it can, to support the battle against human trafficking in Northwest Ohio. Sex trafficking is “any form of sexual exploitation in prostitution, pornography, bride trafficking, and the commercial sexual abuse of children,” as defined by Polaris Project, one of the largest anti-trafficking organizations in the United States and Japan. Sex trafficking is one of the

most profitable systems of modern day slavery. According to the report Prevalence of Human Trafficking in Ohio, 2009, from the Trafficking in Persons Study Commission, “Toledo is currently number four in the nation in terms of number of arrests, investigations, and rescue of domestic minor sex trafficking victims among US cities. The top three cities are Miami, Portland, and Las Vegas. Given that the city of Toledo’s population is 298, 446 and Lucas County’s is 440,456, this area can be considered to lead the nation for number of traffickers produced and the number of victims recruited into the sex trade per capita.” The Free2BMe Project has aligned itself with local organizations responding to the social harms of human trafficking, including Second Chance, a social service program in Toledo which provides comprehensive services to victims of domestic sex trafficking and prostitution. Tori and those at The Free2BMe Project have begun to help prevent young girls from being trafficked through community education. Tori has found a new woman. The hopes and dreams of one exstripper have brought her straight back to the clubs she worked, but those dreams do not stop there. The vision of The Free2BMe Project is based on unconditional love. The long-term goal is to provide spiritual counseling, life-coaching, educational resources, and career transition resources. Tori is thoroughly committed to walking through life alongside women in the sex industry, right where they are, as a friend. She believes we were created as relational beings that need one another. She says, “Life isn’t easy and it often takes great friends to help where we want to be. The Free2BMe Project wants to be that friend and to offer whatever help it is able to assist women in the sex industry in fulfilling the dreams and purposes placed on their hearts.” If you would like more information about The Free2BMe Project, please visit their website: www.thefree2bmeproject.org. ts

n May 3rd, 2010, an eviction deadline had come up for a homeowner in the quiet working class town of Stony Ridge. A home was being taken. Along with countless others hit by the economic downturn, Keith Sadler was unable to keep up on payments for a house that he had been living in for 20 years. His work in the auto industry had crippled him and he was forced out of his job with little compensation. After tirelessly trying to negotiate a deal with banks, he succumbed to a foreclosure, but this story of profit above people and systematic exploitation would not end as most do. The Toledo Foreclosure Defense League chose this home to be a line in the sand. Six months of barricading and planning would make this action one that would resonate farther than this small group of activists could have imagined. In the early morning of May 2nd, seven activists including the homeowner locked themselves in 5947 Fremont Pike with food and supplies preparing for whatever may come. A press conference and speak out with national housing rights advocacy groups Take Back the Land and Moratorium Now! was scheduled that evening, and local media were present. Throughout the week local and national media would report on the event. Live footage streaming from inside the house kept a human face on the action. Support locally and nationally kept spirits high and passed the time. In the early morning of Friday, May 7th, the inevitable raid happened. Being the only one awake, I was a bit scared. Crashes came thundering in from all sides, people were scrambling

to gather themselves and prepare for the breech. It took roughly 5 minutes for the S.W.A.T. Team in full battle gear to break through our barricades, but they would have one last surprise when they came in. We had constructed devices out of PVC pipe and cement that would keep us locked together and unable to be arrested until they were removed. The look on the S.W.A.T. Team members’ faces when they yelled “HANDS UP”, then realized we couldn’t comply, was truly priceless. After two hours of meddling and cutting they carried us off the property. With our comrades, neighbors and local media watching, we were taken to the Wood County Jail. Cops and criminals alike supported what we had done (although police had to condemn breaking the law, some could not hold back their honest feelings). Later that day we were released on an OR bond to a flurry of hugs and congratulations by supporters outside the jail. Weeks later, we went to trial facing 120 days in jail for criminal trespass and obstructing official business. Tensions were high, but we said our piece to the judge and collectively pleaded no contest. (Although some were critical of our plea, our battle is not in the courtroom—it is on the streets. Whether the court room legitimizes or demonizes our actions, is of no consequence to us). All were given 12 months probation with 120 days suspended on the condition of “good behavior”. Our behavior is not a battle for one home, it is a battle for all homes. As more and more are kicked to the streets and those already homeless sleep in front of boarded up people-less houses, we have a duty to correct this injustice. Free Homes for all People! ts

Bridge

continued from page 7 BATHROOM!! – most of us take all of these things for granted. (Fear of failure, of disappointing those that I love, pain. What, have you none of it??) I had contemplated suicide, but it beat me to it . . . I would gladly end it all now if only I could make Steve see that the Tigers third baseman made an error that cost them 2 unearned runs in the top of the fifth. What? Did you think that baseball no

longer mattered?? I am always looking for an opportunity to advance my agenda: I want to live . . . I, I want to know the way out. Now, while it is trendy to identify with the homeless . . . helping helpless homeless. . . Homelessness is fear & uncertainty in equal parts. This is how I see it. This is my point of view. . . ts

Issue #12

Toledo Streets - The Paper with a Mission

Living Faith: Pineapples on Porches

used to wonder what the flags were all about that hung from people’s front doors, porches, and fences—you know, the ones with a gigantic pineapple. I was amazed to find out this was a demonstration of hospitality. If you were a sojourner and passed by a home with a pineapple on the porch, it was a signal you’d be welcome there for a meal and possibly a roof over your head for a night. Though I cannot say I’ve witnessed an actual pineapple on a porch, I think the notion of hospitality is one that is more important than most of us give thought to. (I would love to see the look on someone’s face if I knocked on their door looking for a meal because of their pineapple flag waving invitingly in the wind.) Most of my life I was taught caution when it came to strangers – a caution that made hospitality in the sort of pineapple flags impossible. My childhood gave me an overdeveloped sense of fear of the sojourner – and ultimately of the poor. I expected to be taken advantage of if I attempted to give an outstretched hand. As an adult I have begun to see how this may have destroyed the world we live in. Of course there is risk at extending hospitality to someone you don’t know —but the risk of no hospitality may be even greater. Our culture has become one of fear and suspicion—prudence

Mellencamp continued from page 7

We first met two years ago or so when you made an un-promoted stop at the annual Tent City, Project Homeless Connect in Toledo. You just wanted them to know they matter. Bob Merlis (Mellencamp’s publicist) told me you were touched by the experience. How so? John Mellencamp: When you see what progress can produce, and also what progress can discard, it makes a feller wonder if some of the progress, let me put it this way, calling it progress does not make it right. In this country right now there is no middle class, no place for middle class. You are either really rich or you are really down and out. It’s hard times in this country right now. KL: You brought your wife Elaine and son Speck with you to Tent City. When

Page 9

Pastor Don Schiewer

and prude-ness. We have a fear of Abraham had just been circumcised. If others receiving for nothing what we I’m him...I ain’t running anywhere!) So worked so hard to obtain for ourselves. let me get this straight: Abraham is in My perspective is different, now. a face-to-face with G_d and puts Him In the past few years, I’ve discovered the on hold in order to greet three guys he’s beauty of generous never met before. So let me get this hospitality—offering G_d, by the way, something to seems to be quite straight: Abraham is in somebody without okay with Abraham expectation of a face-to-face with G_d putting a stranger return. What a On the other and puts Him on hold first. blessing to indulge hand, most of us in order to greet three can’t be bothered someone for no other reason than by a stranger when guys he’s never met they are present. we are just walking I must tell you before. G_d, by the way, down the street by this was not an ourselves. seems to be quite okay instantaneous This is where with Abraham putting change – I wasn’t it starts to get good struck by lightning, —Abraham offers a stranger first. On the I didn’t have a near the three men “a other hand, most of us morsel of bread” death experience; rather, I encountered and something to can’t be bothered by a G_d. His hospitality drink. That’s pretty stranger when we are nice – nothing too and generosity surprised me. What one just walking down the exciting—and may have struck me might ask, “How street by ourselves. even more was the is this generous man G_d chose to hospitality?” This be father of His peopl—Abraham. is where Abraham surprises the reader: There is this great scene in the he has a fattened calf slaughtered and Text where Abraham is in conversation has Sarah make three seahs of flour. with G_d when he notices three That’s twenty quarts of flour! So much men approaching. Abraham has the for a morsel. This is a feast fit for a king. audacity to leave G_d to run out and (My experience in the religious world greet these strangers (May I mention, is quite the opposite; we promise a feast

and give a morsel—and then we get indignant if the “strangers” don’t seem floored by our “generous hospitality”.) Now the feast seems to be appropriate when we learn these are angels of G_d and they are passing through on their way to destroy a city—Sodom. Hmm...Sodom! Most of us seem to have a misunderstanding of what must have been going on in Sodom that made G_d so angry He is sending angels to destroy it. Could we have been wrong about this moment? We’ve made Sodom about something it really wasn’t. Let me point you to another place in the Text where G_d declares the sin of Sodom: Ezekiel 16.49 - Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and careless ease was in her and in her daughters; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy (JPS). Allow me to paraphrase —Sodom was inhospitable! I have no doubt these stories are told together to contrast a way of being: One is a life of “generous hospitality” and the other is inhospitality. Too many of us live a life more like Sodom than the life G_d has called us to live—a life like that of Abraham. May more porches in our city be the residence of a pineapple or two. Be well and love well. ts Don is Assistant Pastor at New Harvest Christian Church in Oregon.

you had your private talk with some of the unhoused, at first Speck stood back, but by the end of your conversation he was in the circle listening to every word. Compassion is a pretty cool thing for a father to pass on to a son. Did he share his thoughts on the experience before and after? JM: I don’t remember exactly, but I will tell you he is a very activist type of kid. I found that out when he was pretty young. He did some research at school on some chocolate company and he wrote them a letter and it said, “You cheapskates, why don’t you hire and why don’t you pay fair, ya so-and-so.” And he almost got me into trouble last year, too.

KL: And then what? JM: And then I’d have to stop smoking.

KL: How so? JM: He had a petition on Facebook to try to get me to stop smoking. He had, I think, about a half a million people sign up and he had to get a million. The whole conversation was just at Thanksgiving last

year. We had completed our Thanksgiving dinner and I lit up a cigarette at the table. He looked at me and he went like, “Really, Dad?” And I said, “What do you mean, ‘Really Dad’, I smoke all the time?” And he said, “Yeah but it’s Thanksgiving, I’m not done eating.” I said “OK, I’ll go somewhere else; it’s a big house.” So I went into another room. A couple hours later he walks up and said, ”Hey Dad, if I get a million people to sign up on Facebook would you stop smoking?” And I said, “Yeah, go ahead.” That was the end of the conversation. By the time the thing had started, ya know, a couple weeks into it, Larry King wanted him to come on, Good Morning America asked him, and of course I wouldn’t let him go on anywhere. First of all, I don’t want him talking about my bad habits; and second of all, ya know, I knew he’d reach his mark.

KL: Would ya? Have you tried? How many times have you tried? JM: Listen, I have no desire to stop, so there’s no reason to even have that conversation. If I would have wanted to stop smoking I would have years go. KL: Took me like 32 times of quittin’ to finally do it. JM: Yeah, well, you wanted to stop. I’m confirmed. KL: And your other son Hud? JM: He’s 16 years old and he fights tomorrow night. KL: Boxer or Extreme? JM: Boxer. He holds five state championships right now. He just got back from Annapolis. They want him to “Mellencamp” continued on page 11

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Toledo Streets - The Paper with a Mission

Issue #12

Gordie

continued from page 7 Over a plate of warm oatmeal cookies and milk, Gordie recalled that there were days back in Saskatchewan when family meals consisted of oatmeal for breakfast, lunch and supper. Sometimes they could scrounge up something more substantial. “So enamored with the game of hockey was young Mr. Howe that his mom, Katherine, gave up all hope of getting her son to doff his skates for lunch. But he would simply trudge into the kitchen from a nearby pond—newspaper strategically placed to prevent damage to the linoleum—and quickly inhale a sandwich before taking stick in hand and returning to the ice… From such dedication, a hockey hero was born… At first, Howe skated on one foot, forced to share the pair of skates his family purchased at the height of the Great Depression [from another local family in desperate need of cash to feed their children]. Gordie got one skate; his sister Edna the other. Eventually, Gordie bartered a deal and purchased Edna’s half of the pair for a dime” (From the book NINE, 2007, Olympia Entertainment Inc.). As a child, Gordie did a great deal of hard, physical labor on neighboring farms, and with building tradesmen. Gordie Howe became a tremendously strong skater on the ice and these grueling chores no doubt contributed to the exemplary physical strength he would later exhibit while playing hockey. He spoke very fondly of his good friend and former teammate Sid Abel. Gordie Howe, Sid Abel and Ted Lindsay formed one of the greatest forward lines in NHL history during the 1950’s. They were known as the “production line,” the heart and soul

of the great Detroit Red Wing teams of that era, whose rugged hard-working style of play mirrored the blue collar ethos of the city they represented. Mr. Howe praised Sid Abel for his kindness and his willingness to mentor him when he first joined the Red Wings. Gordie Howe played with the Detroit Red Wings from 1946-1971. 25 seasons. He came out of retirement in 1973 to play with his sons, Marty and Mark on the Houston Aeros of the World Hockey Association. He was 45 years old when he came out of retirement and he played another seven years after that at a very high level of performance. We asked Mr. Howe what he attributed most to his incredible longevity on the ice, and he said simply, “the love of the game.” Playing hockey was a joy to him, and he gave so much joy to those who were fortunate enough to see him play all those years. And he was a competitor until the day he retired. As Hall of Fame goalie, Tony Esposito recalls, “When I entered the league, Gordie was toward the end of his career for the first time. But he was still a great hockey player...even in his 50’s he was a force and could still play. He wasn’t just there because he was Gordie Howe. He was contributing. I remember he scored a goal on me—a wrist shot from about 25-feet out. He beat me clean to the low catching side. He really got a lot on it—blew it by me before I could get there. I think that’s why he came back. He knew he could skate and do the job physically” (From the book NINE, 2007, Olympia Entertainment Inc.). Gordie was a work-horse who battled in the NHL for more than five decades.

PART III

s we roll up the driveway, Gordie is standing in the short grass at the gate to the backyard. He is holding a very small and very cute black dog. Every athlete in the northern climes knows the legend of Gordie Howe; from Russia to Finland to Sweden to Newfoundland to Alaska and back to Russia again…every athlete in the Northern climes knows the legend of Gordie Howe…and yet Gordie lives, not in a palace, but in a simple North

American house, with a simple North American mailbox, and a simple North American backyard. He shares this trait with Neil Armstrong, a man of great deeds and yet great humility. And Gordie is holding a very small and very cute black dog. Again, this is GORDIE HOWE. Mean as a snake competitor; slash you ‘cross the hands, GORDIE HOWE is holding a very small and very cute black dog. “What’s his name?” we ask, and Gordie smiles and answers, “Rocket.

O’Fahey stands next to Howe at the end of the interview with “Mr. Hockey”. Photo: Robin Charney

His name is Rocket.” “You mean like Rocket Richard?” we inquire sincerely. “Yes,” says Gordie, “Like Rocket Richard.” This simple fact is quite poignant for those folks who know a little hockey history. Gordie Howe’s beloved little black dog is named Rocket. “You had years of hard-fought rivalry against Rocket Richard, he was a really tough competitor, is that right?” “Yeah,” smiles Gordie, “we fought some battles.” Gordie holds Rocket the dog in a gentle way that you know that “Rocket” holds a special place in Gordie’s life. [Note: Howe’s Red Wings fought Richard’s Canadiens in brutal battles for the Stanley Cup throughout the 1950’s]. “Richard wore #9, then you wore #9, right?” we ask. “I had a couple of different numbers when I was playing at Omaha,

and with the Saskatoon Quakers, then I finally had the chance to choose my number because I led the team in scoring.” “And you choose Richard’s number, number 9?” Gordie replies, “Yep.” Neither of us wishes to labor a potentially sensitive subject. Gordie Howe and Rocket Richard were brutal rivals with each other on the ice. But, Gordie’s fondness for a dog named Rocket, seems to reveal a profound respect for Richard that lives on long after the earthly passing of Quebec’s folk hero. As we depart, Gordie invites us to take photographs beside him. “I want to take a picture with Jim,” he says, “so people can see how fit I am.” Being kiddingly insulted by Gordie Howe is one of the greatest events in O’Fahey’s life. As we’re walking out the door, Bob reflects on the miraculous recovery from a near fatal hockey injury (in 1950) that brought the world hockey’s most storied career.

EPILOGUE

e were surprised to learn that Gordie Howe has been intimately familiar with Toledo hockey for decades. “We would be sequestered in Toledo during the Stanley Cup Playoffs and we often stayed in that hotel downtown.” “Downtown Toledo?” we ask. “Yes,” says Gordie. “And I cut the ribbon at Bowling Green’s hockey rink and sometimes we practiced in Bowling Green.” And Gordie Howe has been very generous with his time on behalf of Toledo and southeast Michigan charities.

At a recent appearance at a southeast Michigan amateur hockey association event, Gordie said, “Every time I’m around hockey, I’m happy...” The event’s coordinator was heard remarking that he hoped to bring Howe to the hockey camp to fit in with the family theme. “We believe that hockey is a family-oriented sport.” Our experience with Gordie that afternoon confirms that Gordie is all about family…and that’s another reason why GORDIE HOWE IS ONE FOR THE AGES! O’Fahey and Ellis can be reached through www.amishcountrydoctors.com ts

Issue #12

Toledo Streets - The Paper with a Mission

Page 11

Mellencamp continued from page 9

be a boxer for them and he went up and trained for two weeks.

between one of our breaks because of his race. So, ya know.

KL: Was that nerve wracking to see him box? JM: No, I know how much Hud trains, he’s ready to fight. His record is 20-2. He’s a bad-ass, I can tell ya that.

KL: And since then you’ve carried on standing up for farmers, for the people, I remember Jena, you stuck up for people there and actually put a lot of your work and effort into that. JM: Well I’m Sisyphus myself; I’m always the guy who’s rolling the rock up the hill. Ya know, and every time I get too close to the top I either let it roll back down on purpose or it just rolls back, catches on fire and rolls down at someone. So I know what it’s like to have to work at something. My struggle is obviously different than some folks’ struggle, but, nevertheless, we all have our problems.

KL: Did you ever box? JM: No, I could fight in the street, but this is a sport to him, he’s very good at it. I’m proud of them both. KL: When you were on stage at Tent City, you spontaneously decided to invite everybody there to your concert, all of the unhoused people. JM: Right. KL: 60 - 70 people went and I understand you talked to them from the stage about hope. As you know, one of the guests came back from the show and said “Ken, John talked to us from the stage – I guess I really do matter.” That was the founding moment of 1Matters and actually that’s why we’re here today. Your whole career, you’ve had the compassion for and worked for those with little or no voice. What is the root of that compassion in John Mellencamp, where does it come from? Was there something in your childhood maybe that started this feeling of compassion? JM: Well for me, it started with race. I was in a band when I was 13-14 years old and it was the mid-60’s and it was a racially mixed band. I was the lead singer and this black kid was a singer he was a couple years older than me, really good. We’d play every weekend at fraternities and in hotels and stuff like that. It was a soul band. And I saw the way people treated him. Ya know, it was like wow, really? Wait a minute, you loved him on stage, but now he’s gotta go wait outside? And so I think that made quite an impression on me as a young guy. An all white jury hides the executioner’s face See how we are, me and you? …Oh, oh, oh Jena, Take your nooses down. - Jena KL: How’d you respond? JM: Well, there were times that there were fist fights. I remember in a little town in Indiana there was a fist fight in

KL: How would you define your struggle? JM: Um, well I’ll answer it like this: A man writes to what he strives to be, not what he is. Out there somewhere You know there’s gotta be a place Where a man can live With a smile on his face And every day something New begins. - The West End KL: The crucible that caused me to get involved in this movement in 1990 was a result of performing in comedy clubs all across the country in the late 80’s and seeing more and more people on the streets. It was the statistic that 60% were families with children that forced me to act and do something. For you, with Farm Aid, tell me about that one moment that caused you to be a part 25 years ago and to maintain it even today. JM: I had written a song with a friend of mine called Rain on the Scarecrow and I had just made an album about what I had seen. Ya know, what prosperity had done to the small towns. How they had leveled them out and devastated small town America. So we made this record called Scarecrow and then when Willie called, there was like, it took me about a second to decide I wanted to be a part of Farm Aid. When Willie called up, he had like a vague notion of what Farm Aid was gonna be. It was no more than just a vague notion and we really had no idea it was gonna last. We have our 25th anniversary coming up October 2nd.

Photo: David Yonke

Well there’s ninety-seven crosses planted in the courthouse yard— Ninety-seven families who lost ninety-seven farms. I think about my grandpa and my neighbors and my name, And some nights I feel like dyin’, like that scarecrow in the rain. - Rain on the Scarecrow KL: What was Willie’s notion? JM: Ah, he didn’t really have much of a notion, it was a bunch of maybe’s and guesses and I don’t know’s, ya know. KL: Did that start because of Bob Dylan’s comment at Live Aid? JM: Ah, that’s what he said, you know, that Bob had said something about, you know, that we should try to take care of our own people. I think that inspired Willie. Save some time to dream, Save some time for yourself; Don’t let your time slip away Or be stolen by somebody else. - Save Some Time to Dream KL: One of the things that I’ve always admired about you is your courage in social justice. You take a huge pile of truth, dump it in front of them and say, “Smell this.” Based on your lifetime of fighting for the truth, has your position changed in the sense that does authority always win? JM: Oh, I’m a hypocrite, there’s no question about it. Don’t you know a hypocrite when ya see one? You’re looking right at him? Ah yeah, I’m in the wind all the time because ya have to be in the wind all the time. If you’re steadfast on your commitments… I

have a new song, it’s called “Save Some Time to Dream”, and I address that and it says always keep your mind open and always question your faith. You can’t just say that this is my position and this is my position for life because, ya know, you discover new information, you see, you grow up. You see things through different eyes. So, you know, I suppose that in the world’s eyes, I’m a hypocrite because I’ll say one thing and do another, but I said one thing 25 years ago and being judged for an action that I did today. So, ya know, things change, man. KL: How so? I hear more respect for you and your work in fighting authorit,y and I see you winning over time in the things you’re taking on. Is that an illusion? JM: I guess that’s an illusion, ‘cause I don’t feel that way. KL: How do you feel? JM: I feel like you’re dammed if ya do and damned if you don’t – so to hell with it. That’s what I feel about it. KL: Just go with your spirit then. JM: Yeah. KL: In the past few years there have been people talking about drafting you to become an authority, to get you involved with politics. I see you as too honest for that. JM: Oh, I couldn’t do that at all. My “c*cks*ckers” and “mother-f*ckers” would probably not fly very well in conversation in the congress, ya know. KL: I could see you on the floor: Your honorable son-of-a-bitch… JM: “Ya’ lying c*ck-sucker.” Yeah, I don’t think it would go very good. “Mellencamp” continued on page 4

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2011 Tent City

1Mile Matters

“Building Foundations, Building Hope”

WALK THE TALK

October 28th-30th

October 9th, 2011

You matter! Here are some ways to get involved: 1. Come to a Tent City planning meeting! • Second Thursday of each month, 7pm • American Red Cross, 3100 W. Central Ave. 2. Organize a clothing drive at your workplace, church or school 3. Gather or join a team to walk 1Mile Matters • Set for Sunday, October 9th 4. Donate your time, talent or treasure. We have a lot of work to do, and we need your help! 5. Spread the word about Tent City, 1Mile Matters, World Homeless Day, and so many more worthy causes and events!

2010 Tent City; Photos: Dawn Hall